Chase Jarvis Blog » Gearhttp://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog
Wed, 08 Jul 2015 18:46:08 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1First Hands on with MIMIC — It’s a Game Changer [ Plus Score a Free MIMIC + MOVI Package ]http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2015/04/mimic-launch-and-movi/
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2015/04/mimic-launch-and-movi/#commentsSun, 12 Apr 2015 22:53:36 +0000http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/?p=29296Today I’m excited to be the first to share with you a piece of game-changing technology that will help new AND established cinema / video camera operators capture world class moving pictures in the most intuitive, simple way that I’ve ever imagined. And if you read to the bottom of this post, you’ll see I’m giving you a chance to win this gear valued at ~$5000.

Over my career in the photo & film industries I’ve had the good fortune to collaborate behind-the-scenes with many of the brightest minds, top brands and most innovative products. Among those I count experiences with Apple on iPhone and other products, with Nikon on the world’s very first video DSLR (D90), Ustream and now Meerkat and Periscope on live internet broadcasting and…well…drones, software, computers, etc…game changers that completely re-defined entire industries and — most importantly from my perspective — they share the common thread of having led to the democratization of creativity.

Today marks the public debut of yet another one of those ‘pinch yourself’ highlights…the opportunity to collaborate on MIMIC. What pray tell is MIMIC you ask? Well i’ll give you this tidbit first, and then let you watch for yourself…

MIMIC represents a completely intuitive and organic way to control a cinema / video camera remotely… NOT the camera settings…but what the camera actually sees and records. You’re familiar with the concept of a steady cam, right? Well consider that with this product you can now operate a stabilized camera remotely, right from your director’s chair with a simple-to-use device that track your movements and translate them into smooth, precise camera moves.

The genius minds behind MIMIC are Freefly Systems… the same minds that more than 6 years ago I was hiring to fly custom, camera-carrying drone helicopters. The same people who 2 years ago created the MOVI system – a handheld digital stabilized camera gimbal, so advanced, it completely redefined camera stabilization.

MIMIC is their newest breakthrough product and it’s launching tomorrow at NAB. But you got to see it here first.

MIMIC controller on the left, pictured with MOVI on the right. Game-changing combo.

::

So why is MIMIC so revolutionary? In short MIMIC fills in a previously-huge gap in cinema. Where the MOVI brought camera stabilization out of Hollywood and delivered it to the masses…MIMIC now allows expert users, intermediate users and — even people with even the most limited camera experience — to “drive” the camera in the very most intuitive way imaginable and get the shots you want. See for yourself what these 5 year olds can do on their first time using this device…

SO.. If you are a newbie and combine MIMIC with MOVI, you will get better shots than with nearly any other camera stabilization + composition system on the planet the first day you use it. If you are an intermediate operator or director you will get insanely high quality shots within minutes of first use. And if you’re an expert operator you will be catapulted into the stratosphere and the only thing holding you back will be your DNA’s urge to hold onto the past ways of thinking about camera movement and stabilization. [ Win this amazing combo below…]

MIMIC allows you to remotely frame up any shot.

::

MIMIC explained in a single photo. Blurry blob on the right is my camera operator and the green blob on the left is my model

::

The MIMIC configuration pictured here (monitor, handles and sensor) in these videos is just but one configuration…. the sort of “steering wheel” style where the pilot remotely drives the camera gimbal like a video driving- or flying-game… Imagine if you will another configuration I also was able to use in preparation for this launch… one where I was able to pilot the camera with a set of VR-like glasses. YES I’M DEAD SERIOUS. Just sitting there in my directors chair I was able to control the camera w being held by my operating counterpart simply by moving my head in space left, right, up and down in space. I could see exactly what the camera was seeing and was able to steer the camera with nearly flawless precision by simply looking at the feature in the scene I wanted to see. Anywhere I looked, the remote camera (held by my camera op counterpart) would track exactly to that framing. Wow. This truly is the future.

SSSOOOOOOOOOO…. It’s with all that in mind that we are kicking off a contest/sweepstakes TODAY. Yours truly + CreativeLive and Freefly Systems are making it possible for one winner to take home an insane gear package.. That winner could be you.

WHAT THE WINNER GETS.

1. MIMIC controller system. This is the new hotness – the device that represents a completely intuitive and organic way to control the camera. Sophisticated sensors track your movements and translate them into smooth, precise camera moves. (Link coming – its so new it’s not yet on the Freefly systems website!)

2. MOVI m5. This is the digital 3-axis, gyro stabilized handheld camera stabilizer that transformed camera movement over the past 2 years We are including the M5 in a bundle with a bunch of other tasty gear, pelican case etc etc. Check it here.

3. Personal lesson from Yours Truly and the gurus at Freefly systems. If the winner is close-ish to us here in the USA, we’ll come to your place. And if you live far away, we’ll do a 60 minute Skype, Google Hangout or phone call with you. We can talk about whatever you want to discuss about the MIMIC and MOVI – whatever would be helpful, be it tricks and tips or just inspirational ideation for how to get some insane shots with your new toy!

SO, HOW DO YOU WIN?

To help wrangle this giveaway, we’re going back to our favorite widget below. It does a few things really well:
1. manages all entries into a secure database and properly randomizes a winner
2. gives you info about how much time is left in the giveaway / how many entries there are etc
3. allows you to earn extra entries by participating more deeply in the community (tweeting, sharing, reading posts etc)

To enter just fill in your info below and follow along. And note: this giveaway is live TODAY all the way through the 12th of May. Winner will be announced on May 13th via the @CreativeLive@ChaseJarvis + @FreeflyCinema social feeds. Good luck to you!

Thanks for tuning in. This will be raging on all this week at NAB show in Vegas, so keep an eye out for more news here on this post and elsewhere in my digital landscape. HUGE shoutout to the crew at Freefly for continuing to push the boundaries of what’s possible and for leading the charge in the further democratization of video + filmmaking. Questions / comments? Hit me up in the comments or on social as usual.

You my dear friends all know the drone photography + cinematography, UMAV’s, quadcopters, whatever the hell you wanna call them is all the rage these days. You don’t need me to tell you that. But even I couldn’t have predicted when I was first playing around with this stuff back in 2008, 09 and 2010 how fast this technology was going to blow up (figuratively). And…well… I’ve gotten to know the fine folks from DJI Global, attended their launch event in SF end of last year…and lo and behold, I last week scored their newest machine–The Inspire 1– and holy crap. #nice stuff.

Even if you’re not a pro, the DJI Global Inspire 1 drone (or unmanned aerial vehicle, but that’s a debate for another day!) is going to make you feel like one. For the first time (with any degree of quality), this sexy beast has its own camera, made by DHI, just for UAV filming. There are lots of other bits too…some great, and the jury’s out on some other features… My rants and ramble are in the above video, but here’s a quick list o’ specs:

4k camera mounted on the drone

12mp stills

1.2 mile radio range

3-axis gimbal

Wireless 720p HD live view back to earth via the mobile app, so you always know what it’s seeing

GPS to help guide it — and find it, in case you’re a bad pilot

Indoor mode with spacial awareness

Average flight time: Between 18 and 22 minutes

Other hot features on the Inspire 1 that make it sweet? Frickin lazers! Ok, just kidding. But it’s got landing gear that retract and expand on takeoff and landing, without sacrificing the 360-degree view of the camera. It’s also got an optional double-remote feature, so one person can be manning the UAV, while the other pilot is aiming the camera itself. How cool is THAT? That arrangement most closely mimics the approach the professional drone operators have been using for years. Now it’s in your hands.

Anyway, there’s more deets in the video above. And I presume we’ll be seeing more from upcoming competitors like GoPro, Adorama, 3D Robotics, SteadiDrone and many others.

Check out this unboxing video above to hear my take and get a feel for how hearty (and sexy) this craft is.

[Any questions on this? Hit me in the comments. Have other fav drones or optimistic with one coming out? Chime in as well…]

]]>http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2015/01/dji-global-inspire-1-drone-unboxing/feed/37Let’s Hang Out! WIN a Meeting with Me + $500 in Camera Gear + all of CreativeLive Photo Week for Freehttp://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/09/win-a-meeting-with-chase-jarvis-500-from-adorama-free-education-from-creative-live/
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/09/win-a-meeting-with-chase-jarvis-500-from-adorama-free-education-from-creative-live/#commentsMon, 15 Sep 2014 20:20:18 +0000http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/?p=28992UPDATE: The contest has closed and we have a winner!Steve Groves has been randomly selected – and he scores the 1:1 with yours truly, $500 from Adorama and the entire PhotoWeek 2014 from CreativeLive. Stevo: send an email to production@chasejarvis.com to claim your prize and get that consult scheduled. Everyone else: thank you so much for entering!
__
I can point to a handful of in-person meetings that changed the trajectory of my career in photography. It’s with that in mind that I’ll ask if you remember the time one photographer scored a private consultation with yours truly + $500 and free photo education?

Well, let’s you and me hang out. Given that a)I think I might have some insights to get you un-stuck in your career / review your portfolio / make some recommendations on approach to creativity and business; and b)the last giveaway was a hit; and c)it’s frickin Photo Week right now… we’re going in for round #2. Yep – I’m giving away another 60 minute 1:1 consultation with yours truly, along with $500 from Adorama, plus all of Photo Week from CreativeLive which is 6 days worth of photo instruction from many of the world’s top instructors. How to enter? Everything you need to know is right here …

HOW DO YOU WIN? Once again, we’re using our favorite widget app to collect all of your entries. It does a few things really well:
1. manages all entries into a completely secure database and properly randomizes a winner
2. gives you info about how much time is left in the giveaway / how many entries there are etc
3. allows you to earn extra entries by participating more deeply in the community (tweeting, sharing, reading posts, etc.)

WHAT THE WINNER GETS.1. A personal consult with Chase Jarvis. You know the drill. If you’re local to SEA or SF, we can do lunch or whatever. If you’re remote it’s a 60 minute Skype call, Google Hangout, or phone call with yours truly. We can talk about anything and everything under the sun — big ideas, portfolios, what your favorite lens is, how to start that business you’ve been meaning to start, etc. Or my favorite flavor gummy bear. You decide.

2. Gear.Adorama are being their usual badass selves and giving me $500 cash (gift card) toward anything on their site that I get to give to one of you. Ideal for helping you get that new lens, body, drone, or even sweet gear for mobile photography.

3. Education.CreativeLive is kicking in ALL of the classes from PhotoWeek — the world’s largest photo education event via best experts in photo & video education. If purchased separately, these courses would add up to more than $800 bucks.

To enter just fill in your info below and follow along. And note: this giveaway is live TODAY all the way through Sept 29th. Winner will be announced on Tuesday Sept 30 via my social feed and email.

Hi Friends. Hopefully you saw my #IceBucketChallenge video and donated or participated in the #ALS internet meme (and were able to keep sight of the real target of raising awareness + $$ for ALS!)

To be clear we were just goofing from a production standpoint, but since there was some cinematic playfulness and we used a bit of photo tech for my icy challenge, I got a bunch of questions / comments from readers asking me to detail our production. So here’s a quick breakdown, including approach, gear, setup, settings + video editing, complete with BTS photos and a final parting shot. Follow-up questions & comments welcome…
__

Approach
First, since time and resources were limited we resolved to keep this shoot as low weight as possible. So even though we busted out some fun toys, the whole thing — concept, setup, shoot, edit, and post to the internet — took place in a matter of hours.

Other Gear
_12ft Black Backdrop
_20x25ft Black Visqueen
_10ft Ladder
_Water from the lake
_4x bags of Ice
***This was stuff we had on hand, except the ice which we got from a convenience store and the visqueen, which we picked up at a local hardware store.

Here’s a quick sketch and some photos of how we laid this all out, with the detailed play by play below.

The Details
_The main camera prepared for photos was a Nikon D4S with 24-70 2.8 rigged in a way it could be shot by yours truly using 3x PocketWizard Plus III, one in the camera set at Channel 1 (needs N10-ACC-D200 cable), one in hand @ Channel 1 as well, and one with the Broncolor Scoro pack @ Channel 2, the camera was shooting 9 frames per second, and the Scoro was able to deliver speed and power consistently.

_Video was shot using the GH4 for Slow Motion 96FPS at angle while GH3 was shot straight towards Chase.

_The “Bullet Cam” was a rig made using 10 GoPro’s affixed to 2x grip arms held by 2x light stands (similar to how we did in the Samsung campaign video) and then configured in a semi circle just below the video and still cameras. All of them were shooting video and were synced later with a clap! done prior to the action moment recorded. In post we selected one key action moment and grabbed a single frame from each only the same action frame were selected from the footage of them all for the final edit.

_A bucket of roughly 40 Liters of water was used with water from nearby Lake Union (so not to waste) and 4 bags of Ice (the first 2 melted rather quickly, so we re-upped with 2x more.)

_Lighting was composed of three lights for both photos and video. For video, 3 LED Panels at 100W Each, 2x behind and to my side for the Rim light / to backlight the water / define it off the black backdrop, and one at 45º angle medium/high in height on left of the subject for fill. And for photos we used 3 light positiioned very similarly to video lights to cut down on the variance in lighting schematic. We used 2 medium softboxes behind to the side for the rim light, and a beauty dish above me, centered (beauty is not the word I’d use in this case…). Strobes were powered using Broncolor A4S that delivered 9FPS consistently.

_For the set, we used 2x large light stands to hold up the 12ft Black backdrop, a 20x25ft Black Visqueen that covered almost the entire set’s ground to contain all the water, for that we raised the sides so the water would be kept inside.

Then we let ‘er rip, and you saw the results in motion. We pulled the edit together in Adobe Premier and posted to YouTube within a handful of hours, start to finish. Reminder the vid is here or embedded below to watch again / share

Quick edit of one of the still photos below. Thanks again. Hope you were able to donate and spread the word. Hit me with questions or comments below.

Over the years I’ve kicked out a bunch of vids shooting from the skies on commercial gigs, like here, here, here and here for starters. But occasionally, on the heels of a commercial assignment based out of a particularly stunning location, I’ll treat myself to some heli time shooting my ongoing aerial fine art project (personal work with dose of adventure). In fact, I’ve documented these adventures before — like here in New Zealand. I even did a how-to shoot aerial photography thingie here from Belize… but truth be told, all this flying never gets old.

And so it stands to reason that I’m rolling out another bit of aerial photo porn today in hopes of bringing a little joy/beauty to your day AND of course celebrating a quick hit to a gorgeous little corner of Iceland. Please enjoy. As always, taking your questions and comments below, answering those that I can muster.

[And, lastly, before you eeeeeven dismiss this post/video and say “This is so outrageous, when will I ever get to shoot from a helicopter,” I’ll just say that every photographer who has ever shot from a chopper has said those same words at some point… only to find themselves at a future date pulling heavy G turns and shooting from a blue sky somewhere. You can probably even hitch a sightseeing ride for less that it costs to rent a lens for the weekend, so take it all with a grain of salt and enjoy. And, of course, a HUGE shoutout to my guy Big Chocolate for the beats.]

]]>http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/08/aerial-landscape-photography-porn-iceland-style/feed/113LENSTOPIA Part IV — The Top 5 Lenses for Your Micro Four Thirds Camera (+ a few others)http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/08/lenstopia-part-iv-the-top-5-lenses-for-your-micro-four-thirds-camera-a-few-others/
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/08/lenstopia-part-iv-the-top-5-lenses-for-your-micro-four-thirds-camera-a-few-others/#commentsWed, 13 Aug 2014 16:23:01 +0000http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/?p=28605Data tells me that more than 100,000 of you caught my earlier Top 5 Nikon, Top 5 Canon & Top 5 Hasselblad lens posts, but it’s intuition that tells me what many of you are really wanting is today’s post on Micro 4/3 and mirrorless lenses. And yes, I rarely write about gear since there are entire websites dedicated to that pixel peeping universe… but my hope is that this makes the few times I do write about gear more helpful and impactful.

I play the field when it comes to gear so that I can shoot with the best / preferred gear in any situation. And is was really that mantra that got me into this micro 4/3 world. It started out that I was annoyed at dragging my pro Nikon kit around for street photography and personal snapshots, so I jumped on the small camera tip for those uses. Then I hauled a mirrorless kit to the 19,200ft summit of Mt Kilimanjaro and thru the streets of NYC, and.. and… Then I… well you get the picture — I use these things a lot. So between yours truly, my video guru Erik, and my gear editor/research pal Sohail we’ve logged real work to aggregate our thoughts on these lenses with the hope that you get at least 1 or 2 juicy takeaways. The images are Sohail’s since he is more of a gear “tester” — and wrangling thru millions of images to find one of my fav’s with each lens would kill me. So there you have it. And remember a “top anything” list always stirs debate — but that’s welcome and appreciated. Think we’re off by a lens or two? Let us know — and why. Enjoy…

Okay, we’re gonna be up-front about this with you guys: we cheated. If you shoot Micro Four Thirds, you already know that there are a gazillion lenses in this world — far more than most people realize. Throw in adapters and suddenly, that pool more than doubles in size as you can add on Canon and Nikon lenses to the mix as well. So, yeah, we’re cheating. Cause there’s no way I can do just 5 …

The Voigtlander Lenses.

The Voigtlander 17.5mm, 25mm, and 42.5mm f/0.95 lenses.

We did say we were gonna cheat, right? Well, these three lenses are easily one of the finest lens sets on the Micro Four Thirds platform. Put together, they represent the 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm equivalents on a full-frame sensor. and each one opens wide to an astounding f/0.95. No, that’s not a typo. f/0.95. Which means that most of the complaints about not being able to get good bokeh with MFT cameras are now officially put to rest.

Michio Fukuda, prepping for a shoot. Shot with the Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95.

These lenses are superb wide-open, razor sharp when you stop down a bit, and have one extremely neat feature that filmmakers will love. The 17.5mm (35mm equivalent) and the 42.5mm (85mm equivalent) both have aperture rings that can be “de-clicked” with a twist, so you can smoothly go from wide-open to closed-down while shooting video. The 25mm (50mm equivalent) was also recently updated to add the same feature, so if you’re looking to get that one, make sure you get the Mark II version.

While these are manual-focus lenses, they are surprisingly easy to focus, having a smooth, silky action to the focus ring that’s still firm enough to nail focus each time. Without a doubt, these are the best primes on the market for MFT cameras.

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.2

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.2

Coming in at a close second for our favorite primes on Micro Four Thirds is this new portrait lens from Panasonic. At f/1.2 it is only a hair “slower” than the Voigtlanders, but it adds two key features that the Voigts don’t have: Optical Image Stablization and Autofocus.

Images from this beauty are downright gorgeous; the rolloff from highlight to shadow is actually smoother than the Voigtlander 42.5mm and the image stabilization is good for a few stops. The cons: It’s 50% more expensive than the Voigtlander, AF is kinda pokey, and it’s much larger, physically. If you need the AF and OIS, however, this one’s still a bargain, as equivalent lenses for Canon and Nikon are even more expensive than this one.

Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8

Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8

The Panasonic 12-35 f/2.8 lens equates to a 24-70mm lens on full-frame cameras. As lenses go, this is the workhorse of the MFT platform, and it adds image stabilization to boot. Video shooters working with the Panasonic GH series love this lens; it’s often the first one they buy when moving the Micro Four Thirds platform.

This lens is one of Panasonic’s “X” series lenses, which means that it’s built to a higher standard that Panny’s other glass. Think of it as the equivalent of Canon’s “L” glass, and in keeping with that moniker, it’s dust- and splash-proof when paired with a GH4, for example.

Optically, this lens is a solid performer. There is some barrel distortion at 12mm, but that’s almost expected. There’s some vignetting at 12mm as well, but again, nothing a quick trip through Lightroom won’t compensate for – if you even notice it in day-to-day shots. It’s also pretty lightweight, despite the addition of image stabilization. If you’re looking for the one lens to buy for your Olympus or Panasonic camera, this would be it.

Olympus M.Zuiko 75mm f/1.8

Olympus M.Zuiko 75mm f/1.8

This is the long portrait lens everyone seems to be lusting after, and with good reason. The Oly 75mm fills in an important gap in the MFT lineup, giving users a razor-sharp long-portrait lens in the 150mm range. The additional focal length lets you compress perspective a bit more and is optically one of the best lenses in the MFT lineup. Looking at a shot taken with a Panasonic GH4 and this lens at 100%, the level of detail it delivers is yummy. Price-wise, it’s not cheap, but it’s not stratospheric either. It retails for $899.

Metabones Speedbooster for Micro Four Thirds

Metabones Speedbooster

Here’s where we cheat again. The Metabones Speedbooster isn’t a lens, per se, even though it does have an optical element in it. It’s actually an adapter that opens up pretty-much all of Nikon’s lenses to MFT users. From the oldest AiS lenses to modern “G” lenses, this adapter can take them all and bring them to your Oly or Panny. You won’t get autofocus, but you do get manual aperture control, even on the new “G” lenses that don’t have an aperture ring.

Now, if all it did was that, it’d be cool. Maybe not worth the $400 price tag, but still, pretty cool. Except it does more…it slices, it dices, it chops, it mops…. In addition to adapting the lens and making the aperture controllable from the adapter, it also widens the lens and adds up to one full stop of light gathering capability. HUH? Yes. One of the primary complaints from folks who dislike MFT is that there are few wide-angle lenses for it. Panasonic “solved” this problem by introducing a 7-14mm lens (14-28mm equivalent), but now we have yet another solution in the form of the Metabones speed booster. Now, you can take a Sigma 10-20mm lens and adapt it to your Olympus, and instead of it becoming the equivalent of a 20-40mm lens, it’s still a 14.2-28.4mm lens. Metabones changes the crop factor of that sensor from 2x to 1.42x, making that Sigma actually wider on your MFT body than it would be on, say, a D7100. Throw in the additional light-gathering capability and you have an adapter that’s more than worth the $400 price tag.

The Bonus Round

Every time you turn around, there seems to be a new mirrorless platform is emerging. Nikon and Canon finally both kicked off their mirrorless camera production, and Fuji, Leica, and Sony now have their own bodies in the mix. Soooo…. we decided to take a look at a few of lenses that stood out to us on these platforms. Enter…

Fuji 56mm f/1.2

Fuji: The XF56mm f/1.2

A new high-speed portrait lens for Fuji’s fledgling X-mount mirrorless cameras, this lens is perhaps one of the largest primes Fuji has made yet. Even wide-open, it’s plenty sharp, and has bokeh that will leave you bokeh nerds salivating. AF is a bit slow (argh), but that’s almost to be expected from this class of lens, I think.

Sony Full-Frame E-mount: The 55m f/1.8 ZA lens

One of the few new lenses announced for the Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras such as the A7r and the A7s, the Zeiss-branded 55mm f/1.8 is an odd duck. Sohail used it on an A7r and reported reasonably favorable results for sharpness and general optical quality. That could, he also noted, just be the A7r’s 36MP sensor, however, and he did note that the AF was (again!) pretty slow on it. Again – that could just be the camera itself, as the FEs are a bit slow to focus in general.

Boom! This concludes our Lenstopia series. It’s been a hoot going through all of these systems. We bleed for you. All the links to Adorama will give you tons of product detail, price, etc. If you want to rent instead of buy, our pals at www.borrowlenses.com also rent a bunch of these lenses and will ship them direct to you. Huge thanks to both those fantastic companies for getting us all the gear we don’t already own, and some we do. Both of these companies are really lovely.

Big shoutout to Sohail, Erik, and the other gear support crew who have generally put up with being told to go test all of these lenses with (pretty) good humor. If you’ve got lenses for the MFT or other mirrorless platforms you think we should’ve mentioned, please, sound off below. Otherwise, get out and make/take some damn pictures.

]]>http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/08/lenstopia-part-iv-the-top-5-lenses-for-your-micro-four-thirds-camera-a-few-others/feed/107Everything You Weren’t Taught About Taking Photos: How to Make an Image While Making Tough Decisions on Set (Amidst the Drama of it All)http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/08/everything-you-werent-taught-about-taking-photos-how-to-make-an-image-while-making-tough-decisions-on-set/
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/08/everything-you-werent-taught-about-taking-photos-how-to-make-an-image-while-making-tough-decisions-on-set/#commentsTue, 05 Aug 2014 17:05:36 +0000http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/?p=28708Background Story.
This image was a part of a global campaign — print, OOH and digital – for Naked Juice in 2011. This image was one image in a series of 6 ads where the goal was to achieve what we were calling “the Naked Lens” — a superwarm, hard backlit look, complete with lens flare and jeweled tones throughout the image. While it might be an overused look these days — lens flares hadn’t yet hitting the mainstream for advertising. The idea was that this look, when combined across all Naked’s imagery, could be an “own-able” look for Naked. You can see a few other images from that campaign here or here on the agency’s site to get the gist of them together.

But I can already hear you — “so what’s so special about this shot, Chase? It’s just a guy walking down the beach with a surfboard!” Fair point, but ironically I chose this image specifically for that point. One of the most popular questions I get asked about photography is… “what’s it like to do X, or shoot with Y, in crazy location Z?” By and large people want to hear the sexy war stories of the profession — and there are plenty. BUT in high-end, broad reach advertising work you’re rarely asked to shoot the sexy or the impossible. More often you’re asked to shoot the “normal” under some unique circumstances… be those circumstances a special lighting situation, a special location, during a special type of weather, etc… and with 100 smart people (agency, client, everybody else under the sun) looking over your shoulder all the while — each with their own opinion on the best way to do something. That was the case for this image, and that’s why I thought it a more worthy share than another sexywar story. IMHO it might be a less sexy story, but it’s a better read and ultimately more valuable for takeaways because it’s more real than most of the shiz you’ll read.

Setup
Sometimes even the simple images are hard to get. We were setup on location in Malibu at a beach park we’d permitted after scouting the week before. Key challenge #1 = the weather was NOT good. Overcast, cold, with fog and broken clouds. Certainly no one expects you to control the weather and contracts are written with “weather days” etc, but that’s my point. It DEFINITELY contributes to the mood on set — to everyones mood. All of which not ideal when your #1 objective is a warm, backlit sun flare. To add some complications in there, it was our last shot to get, we’d nailed the previous 5 shooting in LA over the past week. There was a fair pressure to get it done… budget pressure. Nobody likes cost overages and you can imagine the costs of 30+ people staying for another day — client, agency, wardrobe, styling, art department, motorhomes, cancellation fees, etc etc. There was at least another $50 – $100,000 on the line if we didn’t get the shot.

We were all setup several hours early, and a lot of less experienced people on set (client’s do these shoots once or twice a year, the agencies do them a few more, whereas we photographers literally live in this stuff) and the people with the purse strings are getting fidgety. [“Why are we even here? It’s cloudy weather! Shouldn’t we scramble to another location and try to poach the shot down in Venice? My phone says its sunny down there.”]

ENTER: 3 THINGS…1. Patience. Scrambling 30 people to a new location that “might” be sunny, to shoot without a permit, is NOT a good idea. Parking alone is a nightmare, let alone all the rest. Besides risking getting shut down from the cops, nobody likes a scramble. Moreover, there is a phenomenon that you should be familiar with… it’s the phenomenon that quite frequently bites people in the ass: chasing light, i.e. “you can see it’s sunny right over there.” This sometimes plays in your favor with a smaller crew and a consistent weather pattern, but we had neither of those.

2. Sun Seeker App. Now I’m in no way affiliated with this $10 Sun Seeker app (and I’ve written about it before), but I use it every day of every outdoor photo shoot I’m on. In short, it’s a must have — it gives you the exact location of the sun in the sky at any given time. In this particular situation, when we’d scouted the location earlier we’d identified that our scene would be backlit the right amount for about 45 minutes before the sun went behind this hill just to the northwest of the beach we were on. BUT BUT BUT given the situation at hand I could tell that there were some breaks in the cloud happening right in the zone where the sun was going to be in an hour… and that — if things worked out perfectly — we might get a few minutes of sun just before it went behind the hill overlooking the beach (that you can see in the background of the image).

3. Making the Tough Call. They say that making hard calls in photography “goes with the pay grade.” But let’s be clear: most of the calls you must make on set — to shoot or not to shoot, to stay or move, to use this lens or that one, this model or that, this camera or that, do this or that or don’t — are based on gut and experience, and all of your gut and experience were cultivated with imperfect data. It’s a feeling combined with experience. Well, that’s what went down here. I had a strong hunch we’d get a minute or two of direct sun beneath the clouds and above the horizon, just right before it dipped away. I’d seen it happen 100 times, and that experience coupled withe the technology that told me where the sun was going to be AND the patience to always wait — to always give yourself a chance (see this post) to make the shot.

So, that’s what we did here. Amidst the voices from client and bystanders and agency and etc., I held the cast and crew at the location… and it worked. The sun turned on like a light switch, burning brightly and warmly for exactly 2 minutes. Not 20 minutes, not 2 hours. 2 minutes. But because we were ready (against everyone else’s desire… “its so cloudy its NEVER going to happen…”) we nailed the shot in a 2 minute window.

Why I chose these settings
I needed the aperture wide open to get the light flare as I wanted it and I needed to be 1000% sure to freeze an action (at least 1/1000) and so that roughly dictated my ISO at 800 given the conditions.

Direction
In this case, my direction to the model was much more complex than you might think. First of all, it was very cold — probably in the 50’s and windy, so keeping him warm in between practice run thru’s was a must — can’t have a surfer all goose-bumped out. Second, in order to put him in the right spot on the horizon and in our frame he had to walk in a very unnatural part of the trail, while looking up and keeping a natural expression… no smiles, just contentment. So, the directions weren’t easy, but that’s what makes a pro model a pro. Seriously. Walk “normally” on this root-covered area just off the path with a perfect facial expression, carrying this surf board exactly this way, don’t look where you’re walking, and god forbid don’t look like you’re cold even though you’re wearing no clothes and it’s 50 degrees and windy as hell… aaaaaand now do that 50 times in 2 minutes while I unload 1,000 frames or so. THAT was the direction. #RequiredToGetTheShot

Post Production
In Photoshop we didn’t do all that much. Primarily some light balance between the hot sun and the darker elements (greens, etc.) in the front. The Nikon has great dynamic range, but we focused mostly on tweaking the balance between the brightest bits of the image and the darkest. We warmed it up a tad, we amplified the lens flare and we went a hair more to the jewel side of the tones in the image color to match the creative brief and the other images in the campaign. And Voila!

So there you have it. Feel free to hit me up on Twitter and Fbook with any questions. If you dig this blog post, I only share one of these every so often here… BUT I share one of these case studies every other week to my email list, with a complete breakdown of ever bit of the image making process. If you want to join the thousands of people who receive these special emails, do so on this form here. I will never spam you or share your info. #Respect.

]]>http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/08/everything-you-werent-taught-about-taking-photos-how-to-make-an-image-while-making-tough-decisions-on-set/feed/97Let’s Have Coffee! Join Me For a 30-Minute Online Hangouthttp://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/08/lets-have-coffee-join-me-for-a-30-minute-online-hangout/
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/08/lets-have-coffee-join-me-for-a-30-minute-online-hangout/#commentsFri, 01 Aug 2014 18:09:31 +0000http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/?p=28679REMINDER THIS IS TODAY! Don’t miss out. Grab a coffee, JOIN IN HERE on Google+ or HERE on YouTube, and ask some questions! You can also catch an embed down below. I’m all ears and a little bit of mouth… See you in a jiff…

BONUS ANNOUNCEMENT: My friends over at Adorama have made several special deals available as part of my Hangout today. Click on this link to head over to the special Adorama landing page to check out the specials! I’ll also have a $100 gift card to give away during the show, so watch out for that, too.

A lot of people offer to buy me coffee. It’s great. I love coffee and I love talking shop. Only hiccup is that there’s not enough hours in the day. Soooo… Join me for a cup of coffee (tea, beer, bourbon?) and let’s talk shop for 30 minutes via a Google Hangout on Tuesday August 5th. Here’s how.

Remember that contest I ran recently where the prize was a $500 from Adorama, 2 courses from CreativeLive and one-hour totally off-the-record conversation between me and the winner? Well, turns out that David Arthur was that winner and we’re talking on Tuesday August 5th. But here’s where you come in.

My private chat with David ends at 12noon Seattle time (3pm NYC, 20:00 London), but right at that time, I’ll kickoff a 30 minute public Google+ Hangout where you can join/follow the open conversation I’ll be having with you and whomever…taking any and all questions via Facebook, Twitter, carrier pigeon, smoke signal or however you can get ‘em across the wire to me. Ask ‘em day of…or can even ask them early in the comments below.

Photo geeks, gear heads, and camera nerds listen up! This post is just for you. Nikon today (or yesterday by the time I post this…) just announced the new D810, a consolidation of the D800 and the D800E. I’m a photographer and not a gear review guy, but I get a lot of requests from readers to weigh in…. should you get one? Should you pass? While that is much more of a personal question, my hope is to add a little value to the core camera geek’s potential purchaser’s day by sharing my initial thoughts. Keep in mind, I’m referring mostly to the ‘concept’ of the camera (is it a good camera in the line of pro / am lineup), do the specs make sense, and do I think it’s a good value.

This might look and feel like the same camera as the D800, but that upgrade to the Expeed 4 processing is going to make a LOT of the difference here (same processing system from the D4s I think!) It’ll allow for crisper shots at high ISOs and jettisons the low pass filter from earlier iterations of the D800. Not only that, but thanks to the updated processor, the D810 shoots slightly faster as well. Note: I have had ZERO face time with the camera, so I can’t go too in-depth on all the changes, but if they send me one, I’ll have more to say/share (BTW, I’m not counting on it. They got scared of me when I started using iPhones and Canon’s to shoot video… Golden boy to Anarchist

If you haven’t seen the pictures of it, she’s very, very similar to the D800, but check out images of the camera below in case you want to get an idea of what you’re in for.

The question I’m asked every time a new camera comes out… Chase, are you getting this camera? My answer in this case is no. But not that I wouldn’t want it… It just can’t replace my D4. It would be great wildlife or portrait shooter, but I do too much high speed action and need that 10 or 11 Fps. I also don’t need to chop up my sensor to get 36 megapixels… But I see why some people would love it. So that’s all for me on this quick hit. You asked, so I posted LMK what y’all think/ first impressions/feelings and I’ll try to respond?

[Reminder that Nikon plays close attention to this blog, so your comments on this post — glowing or otherwise — might help inform Nikon about what you’re thinking.]

]]>http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/06/nikon-d810-sharing-my-initial-thoughts-as-nikon-improves-an-already-solid-camera/feed/128Let’s Hang Out! WIN a Meeting with Me + $500 in Camera Gear + 2 Classes from CreativeLivehttp://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/06/meet-chase-jarvis-win-500-in-camera-gear-and-classes-from-creative-live/
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2014/06/meet-chase-jarvis-win-500-in-camera-gear-and-classes-from-creative-live/#commentsWed, 25 Jun 2014 16:11:18 +0000http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/?p=28369UPDATE: The contest has ended and a winner has been randomly selected! And the winner is… David Arthur! David: send us an email to production@chasejarvis.com to claim your prize and get that consult scheduled. Everyone else: thank you so much for entering! As always, we’ll do more contests in the future for you to win some rad prizes, so make sure to keep checking in.

But while ideas and education trump gear, gear is not irrelevant. I’m 110% aware how easy it is for me to preach creativity over the camera when I’m slinging the latest goodies – D4s, Hasselblads, and an Alexa. The right gear HAS actually made many of my photos, videos, etc possible. Literally.

It’s perhaps then, fair to say that progress in one’s photography career / path takes a combo of 3 things. Ideas, education AND some basic minimum of gear.

SSSOOOOOOOOOO…. It’s with all that in mind that I’m kicking off a contest/sweepstakes TODAY that packs all 3 of those things together. Yours truly, along with my friends at Adorama and CreativeLive are each contributing prizes — all 3 prizes which will go to one winner. That can you be you.

WHAT THE WINNER GETS.1. A personal consult with Chase Jarvis. Yes, a 60 minute Skype, Google Hangout or phone call with yours truly. We can talk about whatever you want to discuss: creative ideas, business ideas, portfolio review, the World Cup — whatever — you name it, I’m yours.

2. Gear. Adorama is kicking in $500 cash (gift card) toward anything on their site. Grab a new iPhone for mobile photography OR apply that $500 to that Canon 5D that you’ve always wanted.

3. Education. CreativeLive is kicking in 2 free classes — online education from the world’s best experts in photo & video education. There’s also business, design, audio courses and more. Learn from Pulitzer Prize winning photographers, Emmy nominated directors, New York Times Bestselling authors. 2 courses valued at $149 each will be yours — for free.

SO, HOW DO YOU WIN? To help wrangle this giveaway, we’re going back to our favorite widget below. It does a few things really well:
1. manages all entries into a secure database and properly randomizes a winner
2. gives you info about how much time is left in the giveaway / how many entries there are etc
3. allows you to earn extra entries by participating more deeply in the community (tweeting, sharing, reading posts etc)

To enter just fill in your info below and follow along. And note: this giveaway is live TODAY all the way through the 7th of July. Winner will be announced on July 8th via my social feed and email. Feedback welcome on the widget if you have any.